Associate Professor

Stephen received his MFA from The Pennsylvania State University in 1984. He joined
the U of M faculty as a full-time professor in 1998 as a member of the Performance
Faculty, where he teaches classes in acting, directing, and playwriting. He serves
as the Coordinator of the BFA Performance Program. In 2004, he received the Thomas
W. Briggs Foundation Excellence in Teaching Award (the university's highest award
for excellence in undergraduate teaching), and in 2003, he received the College of
Communication and Fine Arts Dean's Advising Award, for excellence in undergraduate
advising.

Stephen is the author of several plays including The Writer's Block, The Horror of the Little Family Farce, Revelations, The Lioness
of the Leopards, and Zyrardów . His plays have been performed or had staged readings in several cities including:
NYC; New Orleans; Minneapolis; Jackson, MS; and Valdez, AK. He was runner-up in the
2005 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival David Mark Cohen Prize; is a
two-time second-place winner of The Writer's Digest Magazine Writing Competition (Playwriting
Division); and has twice been a semi-finalist in the Humana Festival 10-Minute play
competition sponsored by Actors Theatre of Louisville. He has attended two of the
country's most prestigious conferences for playwrights--The Sewanee Writers' Conference
and The Prince William Sound Community College Edward Albee Last Frontier Theatre
Conference--where he has studied with Edward Albee, Horton Foote, Marsha Norman, and
Romulus Linney.

Stephen has worked as a freelance director for over 25 years directing over 40 productions
including Titus Andronicus, Richard II, The Winter's Tale, Stones In His Pockets, Three Days
of Rain, Company, Fiddler on the Roof, The Importance of Being Earnest , and Oedipus Rex for such organizations as the Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival, Bunbury Repertory,
and TheatreStudio (NYC), among others.

While living in NYC he worked at the Off-Broadway theatres: Manhattan Theatre Club
(Casting, Marketing and Publicity) and Circle Rep (Stage Management), Theatreworks
USA (a national touring company), and A.R.T./NY, a not-for-profit advocacy organization
for Off-Broadway theatres (Marketing/Development). Stephen is a member of Actors Equity
(AEA), AFTRA, and the Dramatists Guild.